MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki on Tuesday defended his predecessor’s transfer of $57 million off the Roman Catholic archdiocese’s books and into a special cemetery trust, saying Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now cardinal of New York, was simply ensuring that the funds would be used for their intended purpose.
“The cemetery funds have always been seen as an asset in trust, and Cardinal Dolan perpetuated that,” Listecki told WTMJ-AM on Tuesday.
A document released Monday as part of the bankruptcy shows Dolan sought Vatican approval for the transfer in June 2007, saying it would help protect the funds “from any legal claim or liability.”
Victims and their attorneys have called the move a fraudulent transfer that is illegal under U.S. bankruptcy code, which prohibits moving assets in a way that benefits one class of creditors over another. Dolan and the archciocese deny that the transfer was unlawful.
The letter was written just weeks before a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that allowed sex abuse victims to sue religious institutions for their actions in response to sexual abuse allegations under the state’s fraud statute.
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